Health
My niece Gabriela Franco-Arizola Beach is a corpsman in the United States Navy. She met my nephew Allen Beach while both of them were stationed in Japan. The two of them had more than just the Navy in common. They both love being fit and working out. In fact, Gaby is a fitness instructor at her Command. I’ve seen some of the videos and her workouts, and I can tell you that she works out hard, and nothing is too difficult for her. Gaby thrives on work outs, and the challenge of something harder to do is right up her alley. I’m sure that is part of the reason she wanted to join the Navy. The physical fitness part of the service was very appealing to her, and continues to be a big part of her life.
Workouts are not the only activities Gaby enjoys, however. She loves rock climbing and jogging with their dog, Jasper. Gaby love to go camping and loves to travel. I’m sure that the Navy was a way to see the world. For many of us, travel is expensive, and therefore limited, but when you are in the service, you can be stationed in many exotic places. Gaby and Allen have been to Japan, of course, but also to Bali, Indonesia, which is where Allen proposed to her. They were married in Japan on September 24, 2014, and now live in Washington DC. They both attend college, and she continues in the Navy, at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
Gaby’s work at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center is one I find extremely interesting. Gaby is a dog handler. The dogs she deals with are very special. You see, these dogs are therapy dogs. Mostly what they do is visit patients in hospitals to help them feel better. You may have seen this kind of dog in hospitals or nursing homes in your area too. The nursing home my mother-in-law is in has dogs that are allowed to roam the halls. The dogs basically make their rounds, to patients that are helped by them. There are dogs that are specially trained, like the ones at Walter Reed. These dogs are specially trained to work with the wounded warriors, as well as other patients. Therapy dogs really help to put patients at ease. Gaby’s work with these dogs is an 
important part of teaching the dogs to be an integral part of the healing, and I find that very interesting.
I don’t know where Gaby’s studies will take her, but I’m sure she will succeed in any field she chooses. She is a very determined young woman. She is talented in a number of career choices, so I guess she will just have to decide on what makes her happy. For now, she still has a year or so in the Navy, so she has time to decide. Today is Gaby’s birthday. Happy birthday Gaby!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
As the summer comes to an end, the kids in the local school system head back to school. Some areas started earlier than ours. While I think school should start on the same date statewide, I am a firm supporter of school starting the Tuesday after Labor Day and ending the Friday before Memorial Day. Nevertheless, they didn’t ask me, and so here we are. School started on September 2, 2015 for the students of Natrona County, and that was the day my grandson went back to high school for his junior year.
My grandson, Josh Petersen is the last of my grandchildren to be in the public school system. It is strange to think that of him being the final one. Josh is a Junior at Kelly Walsh High School, and while he may not be totally looking forward to high school this year, he is pretty excited about the college classes he is taking through the Boces program. The college started on August 25, 2015. For those who don’t know, the Boces program takes surplus money that was not spent during the school year and gives it back to the students in the form of paid tuition for college classes. For students who are motivated to get ahead, the program is perfect. And Josh is very motivated to start working on his career.
Josh has decided that he wants a career in firefighting and EMT. I have long thought Josh would be perfectly suited to either EMT or firefighting. He has been a caregiver for much of his young life, helping with the care of his great grandparents and doing that work in a careful, meticulous manner. He is such a caring young man, and I know that he will carry that into his work as a firefighter and EMT. His great grandparents noticed his special abilities right away. They could see that he paid careful attention to the directions for the care he was going to be giving, and then did exactly what he had been told. At one point, after he was trained to do the Epley Maneuver for Vertigo, his great grandpa, Walt Schulenberg said that Josh was the only one of the younger generation that he fully trusted with the treatment.
Josh is really enjoying his Intro to Fire Science and his Fire Fighting Strategy and Tactics I classes. He is the youngest student in his classes, and the only one who is still in high school. That just reinforces the determination he has for his career choice. He doesn’t want to wait two long years to get started on his training. He is ready to start now. He has had the 
chance to visit the fire stations in town, and talk to the firefighters at length. He will also be involved in training at the training tower in town and in community service that the firefighters and trainees are involved in. He wants to do anything extra that he can too, so for the first time, he has chosen to donate blood. Josh wants to be a protector of life, and I am so proud of that desire in him. His training is only beginning, but everything he will be doing has served to get him more and more excited about his career choice. I think it is really awesome for Josh to be starting his college classes. I this he feels like he is finally starting his life’s work…even if he is just in the training stages right now. It’s an exciting time for him. Today is Josh’s birthday. Happy birthday Josh!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
My Uncle Bill Spencer spent most of his life collecting information about the family history, in an effort, not only to know about his past and his heritage, but to pass it along to the rest of his family. His search began when he was eight and his mother told him about a black book that held the known family history at that time. For some people the information in the black book might have been enough information, but for Uncle Bill, it was just enough to whet his appetite for more. That was when the journey started. It was a journey that would continue for most of his life…until dementia would cause Uncle Bill to forget…or at least to forget that he was still searching.
As I was looking at a picture in Uncle Bill’s family history books that I had seen many times before, and reading what he had written about it, just as I had before, one sentence caught my eye. The picture was of his older sister, my Aunt Laura Spencer Fredrick, and Uncle Bill taken in about 1924 at Billings Park at the west end of Superior, Wisconsin. Billings Park was a place that Uncle Bill really loved, and over the years, the park was not 
kept up as well as it had been in the early years of his life. In Uncle Bill’s later years, he went to Billings Park on occasion. He speaks of trying to remember the park in the years when it was kept up better. He would think about the good times they had there, the happy memories, and the friends he knew then…so many now gone. All of the memories he talked about sounded so sweet, but it was his last sentence that really caught my eye, and even made me a bit sad. He said, “I can’t forget.”
At the time Uncle Bill placed the Billings Park pictures and wrote the narrative, he says the year was 2003. When my sisters and I visited him in October of 2005, his memory was slipping a bit. It wasn’t to the serious level that it is now, but having dealt with Alzheimer’s Disease with my mother-in-law, I know without doubt that he was at the point of wondering what was wrong with him…why he couldn’t remember the things that had been so important to him all his life. That simple statement, “I can’t forget” could mean that the memories flooded his mind, or it could have meant that he went there in an effort to hold on to the memories that seemed to be slipping away so quickly.
It saddens me to know that my Uncle Bill, who has spent his whole life researching, studying, and learning more and more about his heritage, and finding pictures, taking pictures, and placing pictures in his history books, is now struggling to hold on to the memories that his life and all his research has given him. I wish there was a way that we could help him to hold onto those memories. It also saddens me to know that he feels sadness when he remembers the friends and family members who have passed away. I think that probably the hardest part of a long life is the loss of so many people that you care about. It would be hard to be the last one left to pass along the memories, lest we…the future forget about the past.
This year has been unique in a horrible sort of way. We are used to California having fires every year when the Santa Ana Winds kick in, bringing scorching heat that dries out the vegetation, making it vulnerable to the smallest spark. Once the fire starts, they are difficult to contain because of the same winds that started the problem in the first place. We hear of these fires every year…sadly it can seem almost routine…even though it shouldn’t. This year is different, however. This year the whole western coast seems to be on fire. The Redwoods are in danger. Washington, Idaho, and Oregon are also going up in smoke.
The Pacific Northwest has always been the rainforest of the United States, receiving rain approximately 155 days a year. Since Wyoming gets snow much more often than rain, and in recent years, we haven’t received as much of that as we used to, suffice it to say that we don’t even come close to the amount of rain the Pacific Northwest normally gets. This year however, has found the Pacific Northwest oddly void of rainfall. Wyoming, by a stark contrast, has had a very rainy summer. As someone who doesn’t like days 
and days of dreary rainfall, that has been a little much for me, but then when I look at the west with its fires, and the rest of the United States largely void of fires, I have to be thankful for the rain. It seems that the only place that is getting very little rain is the west coast.
I have looked at fire maps many times over the years, but I don’t ever recall the maps having such a lopsided look to them. Nevertheless, that is the look of the current fire map. There is only one significant fire that is not in the west. Our skies are filled with smoke that has rolled in from the west. The mountain is pale behind a curtain of smoky haze, and everything smells burnt…and I’m not even near a fire. I cannot begin to imagine how bad the smoke and the smells are in the thick of the fires. Town after town is being evacuated. Homes, hopes, and dreams are being lost…not to mention lives. It just tears at my heart to think of the devastation to some of the most beautiful rainforest areas of our nation. Places like the Redwoods really could be gone forever, and I can’t begin to imagine how long it will take to bring back the beautiful, moss and fern filled areas of the 
rainforest.
With family and friends all along the west coast, I have been in constant prayer for protection for them, and especially for rain with no lightning. There are some years when fires are so bad, that people can’t wait for summer to end, hoping that the cooler weather will slow down the devastation. I have a feeling that the only thing that will do that will be winter snow or rain, so for their sake, I will agree with their prayers. We have had bad fire years here too, but it never seemed to get quite as bad as it has on the west coast this year. Fires anywhere are awful, but when they are in an area known for it rain, it is simply shocking.
When you’re a kid…especially one who loves to ride horses, it seems to be inevitable that you will get bucked off and have a broken bone or two in your lifetime, but to break both arms at the same time, right before the beginning of summer break is…well, it really stinks. Nevertheless, that is exactly what happened to my grand niece, Jaydn Mortensen. Jaydn loves horseback riding. She has been riding for quite a while now, and recently she has started barrel racing and showing her horses. She is developing into quite an equestrian. It is a skill that comes from a complete and total love of all things…horse. And that definitely describes Jaydn to a tee.
The summer has been a bit of a disappointment for Jaydn, because she fell off of her horse, and in the process, broke both arms. Now, I have never broken a bone, so I can’t say that I understand just how Jaydn feels, but I will tell you this…breaking both arms would pretty much render a person virtually helpless…especially if the cast has to go above and below the elbow. When that happens, the person can’t even do the basic personal care tasks. For an eleven year old girl that would be horrendous. The things you would have to depend on your parents to do, would make you feel like a total baby. I’m not sure how far up her arms Jaydn’s casts went, but in all reality, it is a tough thing to have both arms in a cast…very limiting for sure, and not a fun way to spend half of your summer.
Jaydn loves going to the lake with her parents, four wheeling, and playing in the water, fishing, or anything else he dad is doing. She loves helping him work on cars, four wheelers, or anything he happens to be working on. I’m sure that many of these things were limited too, with two broken arms. It really can be the pits to just have to sit and watch the summer go by. Oh I suppose she could go for walks, and that is something that would interest me, but I’m not sure Jaydn would be very impressed. She would probably think it was boring.
Nevertheless, broken arms can’t last forever, and most casts come off after six weeks, leaving her some of the summer to do what she loves. Still, I expect that having casts on made the summer seem short. While she is looking forward to middle school, I’m not sure she will be ready for it to get here so quickly after getting her casts off. The main thing is that they will be off when school starts, because, lets face it, starting middle school with both arms in a cast would be horrible. So, Jaydn…here’s to a better year, and next time you decide to fall off of your horse, try to land on your feet…because two broken legs is a little easier to deal with…most of the time. Today is Jaydn’s 11th birthday. Happy birthday Jaydn!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
I don’t know if it was because Bob and I had been on vacation or what exactly, but when we went to visit my mother-in-law, Joann Schulenberg, she decided that she had been on vacation too. Her travels took her to San Francisco and to Oregon before finally arriving in Butte, Montana. I don’t know why she chose these particular destinations for her travels, but it is my guess that she thought she had traveled, because we told her that we had been in the Black Hills this past week. When my father-in-law, Walt Schulenberg retired, they did a bit of traveling. They liked to winter in Yuma, Arizona, and then drive to Winnemucca, Nevada to visit her sister Linda Cole and her husband, Bobby. Then, they would drive up the coast to Klamath Falls, Oregon to visit his sister, Esther Hein and her significant other, Keith Leistikaw. I suppose they would have very likely driven through Butte, Montana on their way to Forsyth, Montana to visit family in that area.
It’s hard to say for sure what things trigger my mother-in-law’s past memories to come back to her so vividly, when at other times, she doesn’t really recall them much at all. I suppose it is just the way Alzheimer’s Disease works. Sometimes the memories are there and pretty clear, and other times they are just gone. For that reason, you enjoy the memories when she has them. It is always a surprise. Unexpected, and yet always fun. When the memories come, they come with clarity, so I get a glimpse into what her life was like at that time. It’s also at times like these, that I’m thankful for the research I’ve put into her life for the different stories I have written about her, because that has enabled me to converse with her on things she remembers too.
As our time with her went on, she noticed that the clouds had begun to roll in a bit, because there was a chance of rain. But since she didn’t know what month we are in, she said it looked like it might snow. We all told her that since it was the middle of July, it most likely was not going to snow. She was not convinced, however, because as she put it, “When I was out riding my horse earlier, it was snowing.” She said it in such a 
matter of fact way, that I knew she would not be convinced otherwise, so I changed the subject to her horses. We talked of Molly and Pie Face…her colt, of Danny and Twinkles, and of course, Bing. For her, it was like just yesterday that she last saw her beloved horses, because like her mom and dad, Nettie and Bob Knox…who passed in the 1980s, her husband, Walt…who passed in 2013, and her daughter, Marlyce Schulenberg…who passed in 1989, her horses are not gone. They are just at home, outside, or in the corral. They live right there, in her world, and there they will remain for as long as she lives.
Because Bob and I have been hiking for more than twenty years now, I have always thought that we were careful travelers through places that are home to the creatures of the forest. We don’t leave garbage behind, and we keep our distance when we spot wildlife. It is a show of respect for them, and most often, our distance creates a feeling of careful comfort for the wildlife we pass along the trail. Still, there are times when we inadvertently get a little close. It isn’t because we were careless, but rather that we didn’t see them and I guess they didn’t see us in time either. Most often this occurs with animals like chipmunks, squirrels, mice, or birds, but sometimes deer too. It is times like these that I realize that we are really interlopers in their world. Somehow, that never exactly occurred to me before.
While hiking the Centennial Trail in the area where it crosses the tracks for the 1880 Train, beginning at the Big Pine trailhead, and going to the Samelius trailhead, we came across several Ruffed Grouse. They were in the grass right beside the trail. We didn’t see them, and somehow we managed not to disturb them until we were just steps past them. Suddenly they were spooked by our presence, and we were spooked by theirs. The 
second they bolted, we were so startled that I tried to get the picture of them, and all I got was the turkey that had been there with them. The picture of the turkey in itself was kind of cool though, because somehow the turkey manage to be behind a small tree at just the right angle to be almost invisible to my camera’s eye. I had to look close to realize that I had caught anything in my shaken state.
It was then that I began to think about the fact that no matter how careful, or quiet, or respectful we are, we are still interlopers in their world, and it is still disturbing to them to some degree. True, the lone doe eating grass simply stood and watched us, and the bird intent on the worm it was taking back to its babies went about its business, and the mouse eating grass allowed us to pass by quite closely, and the frog sitting in the water puddle decided that he was not going to jump, even if we were very close by. They allowed us to be in close proximity to them, somehow trusting that we were not there to hurt them. Nevertheless, even with their guarded trust, they still felt like we did not belong there. We were still in their world, and they would prefer that we would leave.
This revelation will not change the fact that we like to hike, nor will it keep us from hiking, because hiking is 
what we do, but it does give me a new respect for the creatures who live along the trails we like to hike. I feel a new desire to somehow tiptoe through their backyard without disturbing them too much. I want to be the stranger that they allow to pass quietly through, even if they take a guarded stance, because I am not there to hurt them, but rather just to take a peek into their world. All we want is to quietly pass through and drink in the beauty that the animals may not notice any more that we do our own living room, because to them it is normal and everyday, but to us it is extraordinary.
My sister-in-law, Marlyce Schulenberg was developmentally disabled. In many ways that made her always seem younger than her years. In reality, she probably never aged past her teen years, mentally. Still, Marlyce could do some things that adults do, such as cooking and working. In those ways she was much like any grown up person her age.
Marlyce lived with her parents, my in-laws, Walt and Joann Schulenberg, all her life, but she was a part of a school in Casper at that time, that trained developmentally disabled people to be productive members of society, and then worked to place them in jobs. Marlyce loved her job, and enjoyed going to work every day. It made her feel good about herself, and it made her feel like she was a grownup, like everyone else around her. Marlyce just wanted to belong in the adult world. Something most of us can understand.
Before Marlyce was forty, she contracted Cancer, and at the young age of just thirty nine years, she lost her life in that battle. It was a devastating loss to all of us, her family, and to all who knew her. Nevertheless, time marches on, and while we will always miss her sweet smiling face, the hats she knitted, and the wonderful chocolate chip cookies she made, we will miss her more than any of those things. Marlyce was the sweetest sister-in-law in the world. She was kind and caring. She loved being an aunt when all the nieces and nephews started coming along.
Her life was sadly, very short in the grand scheme of time, but in that timeframe, Marlyce lived a full life. She was not held back by the limitations that most of us do not consider limitations, like husband and children, but in reality, they are things that must be taken into consideration when deciding whether to read a book, take a trip with parents, or even take a nap. She could, for the most part anyway 
make her own choices. And that was what allowed her to live a full life in just a few short years. Nevertheless, we all wish she was still here.
Today, Marlyce would have turned sixty five. I wonder what she would have been like now. Things would have been a bit more difficult in that her dad is in Heaven, and her mom in a nursing home. I’m not sure where she would have been living. Perhaps with one of her siblings or maybe in a group home. She would be ready to retire, but I’m not sure she would have wanted to do so. It’s all speculation, of course, because we will never know. Today Marlyce would have been sixty five, but in reality, she is forever thirty nine. Happy birthday in Heaven, Marlyce. We love and miss you very much.
So often when Bob and I are in the Black Hills, we are out hiking the many trails there. Because of that, I have begun to notice that when we are driving around in the Hills, I seem to always be looking for trails, and when I find one, I begin to wonder about it. Where does it go? How difficult is the hike? What would I see on the trail? Are there streams there to cross? Pretty much it’s the normal questions that come to my mind when I think if hiking. I guess it’s just the trails draw. I like thinking about what is just around the next turn on the path. It gives my imagination a chance to work overtime.
The Black Hills has so many trails, that I find myself always in search of a new trail. And finding one is always a possibility. I seriously doubt if we have hiked even half of the many trails that exist there. Nevertheless, we have hiked many of them, and I can tell you that when you are out in the trail hiking…well, there is just nothing like it in the world. You just can’t see many of those sights from the road, but rather from the road all you get is the trail’s draw, telling you to come and have a look. To come and find the peace and quiet that lives there…only on the trail.
As I think about it though, and since I have hiked Harney Peak, my favorite hike, many times, I would have to say that the trail that I find the most intriguing…and the one that will stay that way for some time to come…would have to be the hike up to the Hall of Records, behind the faces of Mount Rushmore. Since it takes 
obtaining Congressional approval…an act of Congress…to hike that one, I’m sure it will continue to remain a mystery to me, for a long time, if not the rest of my life. Every time I look at the faces of our presidents carved on Mount Rushmore, I find myself looking to the right, to a spot that could easily be missed if I didn’t know what it was. In many ways, I look at that spot longingly, because I know that up that hill are the stairs that lead to the top, to the secret spot behind the faces, where the Hall of Records has been carved into the granite face of the mountain top, hidden from public view, only to be seen by a very select few…and probably never me, because Congress would have no reason to approve my request. Nevertheless, the trail’s draw on me remains.
It isn’t very often that a person can decide one day to change their entire life…and then stick to it. Even if the change was made to save their life. Humans aren’t usually a strong willed bunch. Nevertheless, when someone makes up their mind that they want to live and that they want to live life to the fullest, it can be done. My sister-in-law, Brenda Schulenberg is an amazing example of such will power. When she first started this journey, she didn’t think she could do it, but now she won’t quit.
When Brenda was told that she had Cellulitis, Congestive Heart Failure, and Sleep Apnea, she didn’t sit down and cry about it, saying that her life was over, so she might just as well, give up. No, she decided that she was going to take back her life, and move forward. Her journey has been an amazing one, and it was all done is a very 
short time. From October 18, 2013 when she first went to the hospital to the current time, Brenda has lost over 300 pounds. She is within a pound or two of her goal weight, and then will begin weight maintenance.
Much has changed in Brenda’s life. I don’t think that she ever dreamed that she would spend so much time hiking…or that she would love to go hiking. There are several of us in the family who love to hike, and I have to wonder if Brenda used to think we were all crazy. Well, welcome to the nut house Brenda. Now, I’m sure there are people in your life who think you are just a little bit crazy too. In all reality though, hiking is so fun and relaxing. Once you get started on it, it is really hard to think about not going.
Of course, Brenda still works full time, but her job is a little bit easier to do these days. Trying to work when you spend your entire life exhausted is no fun, but now that Brenda has lots of energy, the only time she is very tired is at bedtime, and that is normal. That in itself is a huge change, since Brenda spent most of her weekends sleeping in an effort to feel rested. It still wasn’t enough sleep. No more!! Now, Brenda is an inspiration to those around her…either that…or they just find her exhausting. It doesn’t matter which it is, because Brenda isn’t going back. She loves her new life, and all the activity in it. She loves hiking, and being outdoors, and will go even in the rain. It’s a “have raincoat, will hike” situation. Today is Brenda’s birthday. Happy birthday Brenda!! Another year better!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
